Rules
by Unicorn819
Summary: The redneck stared at Carl with narrowed eyes,"If you think anyone can be trusted in this kind of world, then I gotta lots to teach you. Nobody's never going to ask somethin' without hopin' to get somthin' back. Whether you end up dying or not they won't care. That's why you gotta play by their rules." Richonne, Caryl
1. Chapter 1

**Hiya people! My second attempt at a Walking Dead fanfic after the first one didn't go so well (aka, I had no idea what I was doing…) **

**Anyway~ here's the full summary; In "Beside the Dying Fire", Carl got separated from Rick at the barn. Now all alone with no trace of the original group, he runs into the last person he'd expect to see, Merle Dixon. Follow Carl as he travels through the world with their small three person group and as he learns that he was closer to home than he thought.**

**Pairings are: eventual CarlxOC, eventual RickxMichonne and eventual DarylxCarol **

**Don't and will never own the Walking Dead**

**And with honors, let me introduce the first chapter of "Closer than You Think"! **

**~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD**

The thirteen year old slipped off of the roof of the RV. Out of all the things, he slipped on whatever was on top, and landed on the other side face up. Pain exploded throughout his body as he landed on the dry grass with a dull thud, gun clattering on the ground next to him. His head throbbed and he only heard the muffled groaning of the nearby walkers as they closed in on him.

He needed to get up. He needed to get up and run to his dad.

Carl jumped to his feet, grabbing the gun and hat, and looked at the sides of the RV, silently cursing as he saw an uncountable number of walkers on the front and rear end of the truck.

There was no way he could run through either side without getting snagged on one of them. Tears pricked his eyes when he saw the only straight path led to the forest, _away_ from anyone from the group.

He ran. Ran as fast as his legs could take him for that line of trees. Legs and chest burning, he dodged the decayed arms that dared reach out for him.

The sound of a motorcycle revving reached his ears and he knew that Daryl was somewhere, speeding away with probably his last hope of finding someone to save him.

Crunching leaves felt like a melody to his ears as he looked around.

He made it, with only a few, maybe three straggling walkers behind him. He made a couple turns until it was quiet, save for the crunching of leaves.

His eyes burned with tiredness, his legs ached, and his brain hurt. If anything, he just wanted to go back to the house and hug his mom, eat some food and then curl up next to her and his dad for the night.

He'd like to listen to Daryl talk about his latest hunting escapade (even if he'd had to ask more than a few times), or even just sit with Carol as she did something like fixing someone's torn clothes or deciding what to make for dinner out of the vegetables from the garden.

Carl would do anything to go back to that lifestyle but now, he was all alone.

_~~~~~~~~~~~Rewind to Rick after Carl fell off~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

Rick ran until he made it to Hershel, shooting the stray walker that was just about to bite him. He looked behind him, telling Carl that it was time to go until he noticed one missing factor from that plan that made his blood run cold.

Carl was nowhere behind him.

A shaky breath escaped his lips as he turned to every side around him only to see walkers as far as the eye could see.

Hershel kept shooting his shotgun, looking for a small figure in the darkness but he knew. He that the chances of finding that boy were next to nothing with a herd size. The best and Rick could do was hope that someone else had picked them up on their way out of the farm gates. Either that or they had to accept the inevitable.

"Rick we have to get going." Hershel said with a gentle, firm tone. He was running out of bullets and the chance that the clear area to his car would not be clear anymore was also high.

"Carl. We- we need to f-find Carl." He stammered, staring out into the distance in a last desperate attempt to find his son.

"Rick come on." Hershel urged again," We can check and see if someone else has him."

~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD

Carl finally made it to the highway. He had no idea what time it was, nor would he know in the future. If it was one thing he hated, it would be silence.

Pure and utter silence.

When he was sure that he couldn't see at least a foot in front of his face, Carl ducked inside of one of the empty cars and sat between the back seat.

He _tried_ to go to sleep, he really did. The thought of a herd being around him and or looters somewhere around him kept him wide awake enough. Well, awake enough until the exhaustion and weariness from crying, running and fear drug him into a cold, hard, sleep.

Carl knew what sleeping for two hours was like, and from that familiar feeling, he guessed it was two and a half hours of sleep.

The loud sound of a truck snapped him out of his sleep, causing him to peek out of the window. A moving truck was slowly across the highway, looking like the same one his dad came back to him in. Out of pure drowsiness, he opened the car door and climbed out, calling for his dad.

He would come and drive up to Carl, pick him up with his mom in the driver's seat, and they would drive back to the group again.

The person who got out of the driver's seat made him fully awake though.

He remembered at the first camp outside Atlanta, his mom told him to especially stay away from this one Dixon brother. Merle called out to him, and Carl weighed his options. He couldn't get back into the car now that Merle had already saw him. He _could_ run and duck between some of the scattered cars, but he only had a few bullets and couldn't defend himself if he ran into a herd.

Choosing the latter option, Carl ran. Ignoring the shout of "Ay boy!", he only stopped when a bullet landed on the ground behind his heel causing him to stop dead in his tracks.

The boy put his hands up, hoping that Merle would not even remember who he was and just look and see if he had anything, then leave.

The footsteps got closer to him, followed by the wild laughing. He felt like he was about to die. That Merle was going to shoot him in the back of the head without even giving him a fighting chance. His heart hammered in his chest, his breathing erratic as the redneck's hand touched his shoulder.

His blood ran cold as the look on Merle's face only became a wide grin. "Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Carl kept his mouth shut.

" You're Officer Friendly's boy ain't ya?" Carl still didn't answer. His head snapped to the side as Merle's hand came across it, and blood filled his mouth.

"I think it's a good idea to listen to your elders when they talking to ya." The redneck teased. He pulled the hat off of Carl's hear and began to play in his hair. "My dad would'a given you an ass kicking if you disrespected him like this."

He still kept his mouth shut, refusing to answer himself to a terrible man like Merle. Even at his young, naïve, state, he saw how Merle acted towards the other people, to his mom. He wouldn't talk to a man who did terrible things like that.

A rough hand grabbed arm and drug him towards the moving van. He could fight Merle, but what were the odds a kid like him could escape his grip.

The smell finally hit his nose, causing his eyes to glance down at the stump that was Merle's hand, wrapped in a thin layer of bandages.

If Merle weren't dragging him so quickly, he'd have time to bend over and release whatever was left in his stomach. How many days had it been since he ate?

When he got to the metal back of the van, he grabbed Carl's hair and slammed his head against it.

"I'm gonna bring you back to Officer Friendly, and then when I've got you right in front of him, I'm gonna shoot you." He flashed Carl a wide, almost sadistic grin.

When Merle finally released the death grip on his hair, he grabbed the gun from Carl's belt and put it in his own. Then, he opened the door, shoved the thirteen year old in, and slammed it shut.

~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD~TWD

**Yay! I finished it! If you like it and want to see more, send me a review or a PM ^u^. **

**Thanks for sticking around this long and hopefully I can do a chapter 2!**

**~819 **


	2. Chapter 2: Voices and Silhouettes

**I liked the feedback I got on the last chapter, so I wrote this one extra quick! **

**Hope you like it! ^U^. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Walking Dead**

**~~~TWD~~~~~~~~~~~~~TWD~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~TWD~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~TWD~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~TWD**

Carl hit the truck floor with a loud clang. His vision went black for a couple of seconds as his head took the full force of the hit and he sat up.

The section between the driver's portion and the part where he was in was blocked off by a mountain of unidentifiable stuff. One thing moved and the whole setup would come crashing down on the thirteen year old, plus he didn't feel like dealing with Merle any more than he had to.

He wanted to cry, hit something, punch a wall, shoot a walker and break something all at the same time.

He expected to have Merle treat him worse than what he would have been if he were alone. He saw it coming and he was prepared for it. He needed to find his parents and get away from him.

"_Are you sure they're even still alive?_" The voice in his head taunted.

The reality hit him like a ton of bricks. He acted on pure adrenaline and still managed to make it without at least a scratch, but he was thirteen after all. He was smaller, faster, and more impulsive than both of his parents. Impulse might have been what saved him.

"_They made it." _He settled, _"They had to." _

The sound of a stomach growling snapped him out of his psudeo-argument, and the sound of a wrapper being thrown at him made Carl jump.

"It's not much, but you sound pretty hungry." A quiet voice stated. He picked the packet off of the ground and held it to a small ray of light.

A granola bar.

"I'll see if I have anything else in my pockets." The voice rang out again, and that's all it was to Carl.

A voice.

"No I'm fine." The youth answered, this person gave him food, so he should be grateful enough not to take all of it. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." The voice rang out again. He couldn't see the owner's face or anything about them. All he figured from the sound was that it was a girl talking to him.

Carl unwrapped the wrapper and took a bite, savoring the feeling of food going down his throat.

He pictured a tall, handsome teenager, and then wondered why he saw that when it was clear the voice belonged to a girl.

The image of a woman with pale skin and fair blonde hair with sparkling blue eyes appeared in his head.

"What's your name?" The voice asked again. The previous image was immediately erased from his mind when her voice came again. Way too young.

Should he tell her his name? Carl thought of the pros and cons and found that there were none. Merle had her for a reason so they were basically in the same boat.

"Carl." He replied rather quickly, "What's yours?"

Without missing a beat like he did, she responded with "Jacobi."

A unique name. All his life, before walkers came to be, he had run into countless Amys, Elizabeths, Sarahs, Emmas, Hannahs and so on. The name silently rolled off his lips once. He thought he got it right. God forbid if he called her name somewhere in the near future and he got it wrong.

"How old are you?" He asked. Again, he was followed by a quiet reply of "Thirteen."

The same age as him. If she was that old, then how'd she end up with someone like Merle? Didn't she have her parents or someone that looked after her? His stomach dropped at the thought of Merle actually killing her parents.

"How old are you?" Jacobi asked, and he replied with, "Same."

They were out of things to talk about. The petty introductions were gone along with the miles they had passed and hopefully, Merle wouldn't get rid of her too fast. It's nice to have someone his own age to hold a conversation with.

The thought hit him like a ton of bricks. What could kids their age possibly talk about in a world like this? They couldn't talk about video games, their favorite books or movies that were coming out soon.

At least with his original group he could talk about the recent events that they had gone through, ask them if they were okay or needed anything.

Of course she was okay. She wouldn't be here if she weren't. Of course she needed something. Being in the same situation as him, she needed to get as far away from Merle as possible. Suddenly, the lull of the truck stopped and Carl heard the driver's door close.

His heart throbbed in his chest. Merle must have found his parents. He was going to die right then and there, just shortly after meeting his new psudeo-friend.

The moment he was anticipating never came. Two minutes then passed. Five. Ten.

Both of the preteens jumped as they heard distant gunshots. Carl immediately reached for his gun, only to remember where it went two hours ago. Time passed, along with the sound of gunshots until it was all silent.

Carl wondered if the redneck had died in whatever he was doing. Maybe his luck would finally turn out for the better.

He faintly heard two people panting outside, followed by a gunshot and the sound of a body hitting the ground. The truck door suddenly opened, revealing the chilly night air to the preteens.

Three backpacks were tossed towards them, and a lamp was set in the far corner, followed by a wheelbarrow with different boxes. Merle flashed them a giddy look, but Carl's eyes trained on the set of feet and the pool of running blood near the opening of the truck.

"Trucks 'bout outta fuel." He mumbled tieredly. "Time that happens, I want these bags packed with the shit we need." And with that, he closed the door, leaving the preteens in a half lit darkness.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
>He'd never admit it, but Daryl liked it when Carol rode on the back of his motorcycle with him.<p>

She was warm. Even through his thick jacket, Daryl could feel it. Her head was perched perfectly on his shoulder, arms wrapped tightly around his midsection, with the revving of the motorcycle being his only lull.

Daryl felt a vibration on his back, forming a somewhat rhythm.

She was humming.

He silenced the motorcycle a little, just to see if he could figure out what the hell that woman was humming.

It took him a while, but he finally figured out the tune to be _You are my Sunshine_.

Yep. He could definitely get used to Carol riding on that motorcycle with him.

~~~~~~~~~~~TWD~~~~~~~~TWD~~~~~~~~~~TWD~~~~~~~~~~~~~TWD~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~TWD

After searching through the three boxes, the two preteens had placed enough food in the backpacks for weeks, a week alone, two bottles of water in each one, half a box of pistol ammo, and an extra shirt for the two of them.

Carl and Jacobi were both surprised to see that at the bottom of one box were two pistols, two hunting knives and holsters.

Dread settled in the pit of Carl's stomach as he realized what those gunshots were actually for.

He looked up, half disappointed to see a silloutte. He wanted to see what the person he'd been talking to for hours actually looked like. It was plain curiosity, but he guessed reassurance fit somewhere in there.

The silloutte stood up and turned around, holding a bundle.

"Can you turn around for a second?" Jacobi asked, and Carl's face burned when he realized what that bundle in her hand actually was.

"Y-yeah. Of course." He stammered, shifting so he would face one of the corners. His whole body, especially his cheeks, heated uncomfortably when he heard the sound of clothes hitting the floor. His embarrassment slowly faded away when he heard the sound of clothes being shrugged on and a small "I'm done."

He turned around, meeting the silloutte again, and desperately thought of a way to relive themselves of this embarrassing situation.

"Here. I'll show you a way so no one can kinda hear your gunshots." Carl stated as he picked up one of the flashlights and a pistol.

~~~~~~~~~~~~TWD~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~TWD~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~TWD~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~TWD

**Yay! I finished chapter 2! If you like it, send me a review or a PM!**

**Adios**

**~819 **


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